LA Tech 23

Thing 23

2012-02-17T09:45:00.000-08:00

Take a few moments to reflect on your journey. You've covered a lot of material over the past ten weeks. What does it all mean? How has your thinking changed between Thing 1 and Thing 23? Do you see the trends that Hargadon writes about in a different light than when you read about them in Thing 1? Has this program changed how you view the Internet or how you view education in the digital world? What plans have you made for using these tools in and out of the classroom? How will you continue to learn about Web 2.0 tools? What are your big "take aways" from this experience?

I can say I have learned about a lot of new things with technology, however, it was extremely overwhelming! There was so much covered and with small little snip its I feel like I will have to select the ones I feel are useful and dive deeper into them. I have learned some new interesting ways to add technology into some of my lessons and I am excited about that because I think the students will really enjoy some of them. My plan will be to find other staff, who completed 23 Things, that I work with to choose a few of these things we learned and find ways to add them into lessons. This way if the 3 of us each choose one as our focus, we can learn the skill better than if we try to do something from many of them. I think it will take a while to become comfortable with many of these things and I will need to find time to practice using them and also to find ways to add it into lesson plans. I normally don't like subscribing to things and I dislike having so many accounts to things, I do feel like ever since I began doing this I have gotten so much junk mail! The big "take aways" will be in what I create for my classroom next year. I know I will continue to use a Google Calendar or something similar and will it be on a webpage, a wiki page...I don't know yet. But I do think there are several things I can explore from now until next year and make some positive technology changes in my language arts classroom. I am excited for the possibilities of book talks, literature circles and writer's workshop!

Thing 22

2012-02-17T09:06:00.000-08:00

In your blog post be sure to include the link to your wiki. Then discuss your feelings about using a wiki. How does a wiki differ from a blog? When is one more appropriate to use than the other?

I would definitely have to play around with the wiki more because some things were not embedding (I had the same problem embedding the widget before and our computer teachers couldn't fix mine either). With a wiki many people can edit it if you make it public where you have control over your bold. I am not sure if the different settings the wiki has would make it similar to a blog...
It looks like the wiki gives you more options to add on the page and I am not sure how many things you can embed in a blog.

http://rmsreadwrite.wikispaces.com/

Thing 21

2012-02-15T09:34:00.000-08:00

Describe a wiki you found that inspires you to create one of your own. What hurdles might stand in the way of your using a wiki? What would it take to remove the hurdles? Is it worth the fight?

I looked at Comparing Hemispheres and Book Trailer for Readers and thought that these were 2 good sites that show how wikis can be used in the classroom. What an experience for students to compare things from New York with students in New Zealand.
I guess it would be neat to use the wiki for things like lesson summaries, lit circles, brainstorming or vocabulary study. It would be like having your own classroom website but have the students able to add to the information on it. It also said that you are able to control the wiki by having people be able to join so I guess that would help eliminate others from changing things. However, I am assuming that you would have to check it regularly for appropriateness. I am not sure if you can view changes somehow before they would be posted. I know it did say that you could see who posted it, but some may not always follow the rules.

Thing 20

2012-02-15T09:19:00.000-08:00

Include in your post the name of at least one podcast to which you subscribed. Describe your experience using the various search tools. Which do you prefer and why?

I looked through several podcasts to subscribe to but really couldn't find anything that I was interested in. I don't llike subscribing to things and getting an overwhelming amount of information that I can't keep up with. I tried using the genre button to narrow my search but I still really couldn't find anything. I think I would need a lot of time to find something I would enjoy. The podcasts below are what I began to take a look at. I put them on my Google Reader so we will see how it turns out. When I used EPN it would't open on my computer so I had to use Podcast Alley.

http://feeds.feedburner.com/audioblog/DevastatinglyDivineDishes

http://watcherspoints.com/

Thing 19

2012-02-15T06:42:00.000-08:00

Which podcasts did you find interesting? Identify one or two podcasts and describe how you would use them in your work. (Be sure to include links in your blog entry to the podcasts mentioned.)
I looked through a few different podcasts and found the 2 below to be the most interesting. The first one is on idioms - it had the idiom in a paragraph so students could use the context clues to help identify the meaning. We have similar activities we work with in class for context clues and inferencing. The 2nd one is on grammar and writing tips which would also be useful for a language arts class.

http://www.podcastdirectory.com/podcasts/10167

http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/default.aspx

Thing 18

2012-02-14T09:48:00.000-08:00

What did you like about the presentation you embedded? How might Slideshare be useful in the classroom? out of the classroom?
I chose this presentation because I was curious and just wanted to see the next slide after the ...I could use Slideshare in the classroom for the students to share their powerpoint presentations for their research projects - I guess they would all have to creat an account??? But this would save on all the problems with the flashdrives and the computers desktop clearing out at the end of the day. I guess Pete could tell us the best ways to do this :)Why most social marketing falls short.

View more presentations from Indelible Branding

Thing 17

2012-02-14T09:27:00.000-08:00

Give a review of the tool you explored - what worked, what didn't work, how might it be used in your personal or professional life?

I looked at 30 boxes which seems to be similar to Google Calendar which I use in both my personal and professional life. For my personal use I use it for mine and my husband's schedules, he has a hectic schedule so he can see when I put something in the calendar anytime I update it. I always use my Google Calendar to post assignments and due dates for my LA class and this is linked to my blackboard account. I guess I could still use Google Calendar or 30 boxes for my class next year since we will no longer have blackboard accounts. I think I could use Google Docs to post rubrics, book reports formats, and assignments etc. that the students/parents could have access to as well. Although I give them a copy in class, it's amazing how many misplace their copy.

Thing 16

2012-02-14T07:44:00.000-08:00

How might you use this tool in your personal and professional life?
We use this tool now for PBS and I think it works well. I also see myself using it more next year since I will not have my blackboard account I will have to some way to share documents with my students or I will have to create a class website.

What issues come to mind about using this tool with students (ie, they need email addresses to log-in)?
I guess from what I am hearing all of our students will have a google account next year. I think this will allow us to use google docs often. I liked how the video showed the teachers using google docs for writing and the writing process. However, I think the lack of computers in our classrooms and the problems with the carts will limit the use of it on a regular basis. I am excited though that all students will have an account and I think we can find many ways to use it with them.

Thing 15

2012-02-13T06:54:00.000-08:00

Is RSS becoming easier to understand?
Yes, RSS is easier to understand and I do notice it now when I am on different sites that offer it.

Do you recognize new benefits of using this tool?
If I had the time to check this regularly, then I may see benefits to using it. However, as of now it just seems like I have an overwhelming number of new feeds that have not been checked.

Do you remember to check your feeds regularly?
No, sadly I have not checked it since Thing 4. There are so many things they are introducing us to in this 23 Things and unless I find time, many of them will go unused. The good thing is that the entire staff has now been exposed to all of these things and if myself and those that I work with in my subject area split some of them up, we could focus in that area and find ways to add them into our daily use, lessons or how to use them with our students.

Thing 14

2012-02-10T07:07:00.000-08:00

delicious name jbarnes1234

I can see how social bookmarking would be able to assist teachers and those that they work with. It is useful that you can use any computer to pull up your sites and that can be beneficial when you are working somewhere else in the building. I am not sure how I would use this with our students - I guess if I had some sites listed on background knowledge for a topic we were working on and had them to go through them and come with information they obtained. I would definitely have to search the sites carefully so that everything that was on there and anything they were linked to would be appropriate.

Thing 13

2012-02-04T11:57:00.000-08:00

Share your thoughts about tagging. Is tagging a useful way to organize your digital resources and why? What do you think are the advantages and disadvantages? What is important to think about before assigning tags to bookmarks or other Internet content?
Tagging seems to be a useful way to organize the sites you visit and use often. An advantage would be sharing sites with other teachers that teach the same subject, especially when we don't get a lot of time to plan or work on new things together. Before tagging a site it's important that you know exactly what is on the site since it's social bookmarking and everyone can see it. I have just always saved the sites I enjoy under favorites and usually only use it on that particular computer. For example, I really only use my work sites at work because I just don't have the time at home. And sites I use for shopping (like coupons or amazon mom) I only use at home because I don't have the time while I am working.

Thing 12

2012-01-30T11:15:00.000-08:00

Are you getting comfortable with embedding code?
As long as it works, I am comfortable with it :) Still having to use Firefox and sometimes it's not showing up. But I know who can help if I need it. Even had Pete try to help embed the widget and it still won't work. So I guess the answer is no.
Do you belong to other online communities?
No.
Are relationships formed online as meaningful as face-to-face relationships?
I don't think so, but then again I am not online for communication.
Why do you think Facebook and other social networking sites are so popular with kids today?
Kids always jump on the new fad and I think Facebook is so popular with them because it's about something they know a lot about and enjoy talking about...themselves!

Thing 11

2012-01-30T11:05:00.000-08:00

I don't think that I would review enough blogs to make several comments (personally). However, commenting is something I see would be useful for an educational site or classroom blog. It would be a good way to get a discussion going. When I got my first comment I was surprised that Pete had the time to read so many blogs because he commented on 2 of my posts right away. I guess being a "tech guy" it would come naturally to him. I guess commenting is so important for blogs otherwise what's the purpose? Students who share their writing online may like it if they enjoy writing and are confident in their ability to do so. Others who struggle may stray away from it.

Thing 10

2012-01-30T10:29:00.000-08:00

Here is the video I was talking about in the last post. We watch up until the cell phone and the students write down all the sense details (sense wks) they can find up to that point. From there we write a setting description using at least 3 sense details. The next day we discuss plot twist and watch the remainder of the video.

Thing 9

2012-01-30T10:09:00.000-08:00

I like that You Tube basically has a video for EVERYTHING! There are many useful videos I can use for teaching and I chose a video to comment on that I have added to a Prezi lesson to teach setting description, sense details and plot twist. I also have an extra credit option for students to make a movie trailer on any stories or novels we have read in class. They have to include setting, characters, problem, at least 3 main events and no solution (so we want to read the book / "watch the movie"). Most of the kids have made this in movie maker and put in on You Tube as an easy way to share it with me. I haven't had a problem with any restrictions in our building.

Thing 8

2012-01-30T09:45:00.000-08:00

I think the students would really enjoy making their own magazine cover. I know if I spent more time on it, there was so many more items to add to this. I think using the spell activity in Flickr would be fun for students too, they could use it while commenting on a blog or creating their own.

Thing 7

2012-01-30T09:24:00.000-08:00

This is the only personal picture I had access to on my work computer. It was a picture that was saved on my email. Our subdivision had an Easter Egg Hunt for all the little kids in our common area. It was freezing last Easter. Internet Explorer would not allow me to load the picture so I had to use Firefox....not sure why it only shows half of the picture??? I guess this would be an issue my students may face while trying to upload photos.

Thing 6

2012-01-30T08:49:00.000-08:00

Here is the photo that I found on Flickr. It was on the first page of pictures I searched and I chose it because my husband coaches soccer. I didn't find Flickr anymore useful or user-friendly than many other similar sites out there. Costco and Shutterfly have all of my photos saved and it works out well for me. I can go back to their websites anytime to get copies. I am not big on sharing photos with everyone. If we're friends, you'll see my pictures at some point or you will see my family and I in person.

Thing 5

2012-01-25T07:46:00.000-08:00

RSS makes it simple to follow the blogs that you are interested in. However, I really don't follow any now....so I will see how I like it as time goes on. I did take some time in selecting certain sites that hopefully will catch my interest. I don't enjoy when my email has too many messages in my inbox, I like to get to them and take care of what I need to and leave the box empty. So I can see that the overloading of messages may bother me, especially if I don't have time to read them.

Thing 4

2012-01-24T11:38:00.000-08:00

I can see using the subscriptions in my professional life for websites that we are required to check often or for sites that we use for teaching. I don't think I would use it in my personal life because if I want to check something, I would just do it and I don't think I would check it often enough anyway. I bet I could get my husband to use it in some of his personal interests. I do think if I used it for a blog, it would make managing it much easier.

Thing 3

2012-01-19T13:15:00.000-08:00

I got some great ideas on how to use a blog in my classroom. However, it seemed to me that the "how to" videos we are watching have a different format of their blog page. I am not a huge tech person, and it didn't take me long to figure out, but maybe updating that with the actual form we are using would save time so we don't have to look around.
I think a blog would be beneficial in my classroom just like the Language Arts blog I looked at. It had definitions and examples of things they were learning in class: similes, metephors, personification and idioms. Students were able to post examples of each and then had practices quizzes and additional resources they could go to as well. I think I could find assignments and topics in my LA class to use with the students. It would be neat to assign some text and have the students answer journal type questions on it and then make at least 2 other comments to other posts. Although my concern is how many students would actually use it? Could we require it? What if they don't have a computer or Internet connection (or say they don't)? I already have a blackboard account and google calendar and almost none of my students or parents use it. The only time I see students using it in my classroom is when they have lost something and there are no extra copies left. I explain to them and send a note home at the beginning of the year to show all the things available to them. When they are absent they can go on my calendar and get the work, but none have ever done it. Parents continue to ask for due dates and what the students are learning and I continue to give out the information...and still nothing.

Thing 1 and Thing 2

2012-01-18T20:07:00.000-08:00

I am participating in 23 Things to earn another CEU and hopefully learn something to use in my classroom in the future. I am not a huge tech person but I can usually get by with what I need to do. After watching the video "Pay Attention" I was actually irritated to see all the hours of video, t.v, computers, emails etc. that people are acquiring. Nothing bothers me more than seeing a person on their cell phone while taking a walk or someone with a bluetooth in while at the gym or texting in the middle of the grocery store. Is everybody so important that they are always "on call" or need access to technology every second of the day? And don't get me started on social networking...because I can't stand it and I refuse to be a part of it, on a personal level. I can't believe people spend hours upon hours on Facebook. Now on an educational level, I was interested in some of the things that Steve Hargadon had to say. I would like to see how I could use blogs, pod-casts, wikis etc. in my classroom because I know the students would be engaged learning in those ways. I was interested in what he had to say about Kindle and using it to make comments and see other's comments on sentences, paragraphs and pages. What a great tool that would be for reading strategies in your language arts classes! Since I don't have a Kindle, I am not sure if this feature already exists and it seems like there have been many advances since Hargadon's article came out. I did notice that he was talking of My Space (also something I've never used) when all I hear about is Facebook. One thing he mentioned that I will admit I love to use is Amazon. I definitely read reviews before making a purchase and buying online was something I did a lot of this year since I have a 2 1/2 year old and a 9 month old. It does make life easier to shop that way and not mess with nap time, trying to hide gifts, or rush through the store because the kids are ready to go. Whoever thought of showing the best prices, reviews from people who purchased the item, other items purchased, and to top it off..later on they send you an email of things that you might enjoy! Overall, I can definitely see how technology is useful on a personal and educational level. Although I choose to keep it to a minimum in my personal life, I know I am going to have to expand out of my comfort zone and use it on an educational level. And in closing, how do I feel about writing on the Internet? I am assuming from my previous thoughts you could guess that I don't like it. Knowing that anyone can read it bothers me and makes me want to keep things anonymous. It doesn't change my style of writing or how I feel about writing, but it does change what is written and the depth to my writing.